China not commenting on detained Canadian

The International BEIJING —

Crisis Group on Wednesday called for the immediate release of its China analyst, Canadian citizen Michael Kovrig, who was detained in Beijing on Monday night and hasn’t been heard from since.

The Chinese government, while declining to offer any information about Kovrig’s arrest, suggested his activities in China were illegal because the International Crisis Group is not registered with the authorities.

“The relevant organization has violated Chinese laws because the relevant organization is not registered in China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a press briefing Wednesday.

China sharply tightened its rules on NGOs operating in the country last year, part of a broader crackdown on civil society and free speech.

Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat in China, started working for the think tank in February last year, concentrating on China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. He was detained Monday night.

The nongovernmental organization said it had received no information about Kovrig, its senior adviser on North East Asia, since then.

“We are making every effort to learn more and to secure consular access to Michael from the Chinese authorities,” it said in a statement.

“Throughout his time with the organization, Michael has distinguished himself for his rigorous and impartial reporting, regularly interviewing Chinese officials to accurately reflect their views in our work,” the organization said.

Kovrig’s detention came amid a tense standoff between China and Canada over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer at Huawei Technologies, a national economic champion.

Meng is wanted by the United States to face fraud charges over breaching American sanctions against Iran, and Beijing is incensed Canada arrested her for extradition. It had been threatening “severe consequences” for Canada if Meng was not released.

After a marathon threeday bail hearing, Meng was released on $7.4 million bail in Vancouver on Tuesday evening. She is required to wear an electronic ankle tag and will be under surveillance 24 hours a day.

The case has opened up a new front in the trade war between China and the United States but, apparently eager to reach an agreement with the Trump administration, Beijing has directed its anger at Ottawa rather than Washington.

It was not clear if Kovrig had been detained in response to Meng’s arrest.

China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Kovrig’s case. “About this issue, I have nothing to offer to you. China and Canada have maintained normal consular communication,” Lu said. But he repeatedly said Crisis Group was not registered in China “in accordance with law.”

Under the new law that came into effect at the beginning of 2017, foreign NGOs were brought under the supervision by the Public Security Bureau, rather than the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which had traditionally managed them. This was ostensibly to stop them undermining state security — which could be anything deemed a threat to the ruling Communist Party.

They are now subject to spot-checks from police and strict supervision of their activities and budgets, and face the constant threat of being closed down.

Civic groups, Western governments and business lobbies decried the new rules, saying they would stifle freedom of expression.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on any link between Kovrig and Meng, the Huawei executive.

But analysts couldn’t help but wonder if Kovrig was essentially taken as a hostage in the diplomatic standoff between Ottawa and Beijing.

There is a precedent for such an action. In 2014, the Chinese authorities detained a Canadian couple who had lived in China for 28 years. They were Christian aid workers and also operated a cafe in Dandong, on the border with North Korea.

They were arrested after Canada detained a Chinese man wanted for extradition to the United States in a case of industrial espionage. The woman, Julia Garrett, was detained for six months but her husband, Kevin, was held for two years.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Tuesday his government had been in “direct contact with Chinese diplomats and representatives” over Kovrig’s situation. “We are engaged on the file, which we take very seriously and we are, of course, providing consular assistance to the family,” he said.